Women's Coaching Group

Wednesday 24 March 2010

The Scottish FA East Region's first ever female-only coaching group launched on Monday 22nd March and proved to be a great success.

The group, backed by Scotland women's national coach Anna Signeul, was open to female coaches involved at any level of the game, regardless of experience and ability, as well as women who are interested in getting involved in coaching for the first time.

The aim of the group is to share knowledge and experience, mentor coaches through coaching qualifications, and help them to gain experience in coaching or volunteering at local clubs as well as sharing views on how to attract more females into coaching positions in the game.

Sam Milne, Scottish FA girls’ and women's football development officer, is running the new group. She said: “This is a very exciting new resource for women in the local area. We want to encourage as many women as possible to get involved in coaching, and give help and support to coaches already involved in the game.

"The new group will be an open forum for women to come along and share views, tell us what they need help with, and get more information on coach education, development, and mentoring. We plan to meet four times per year, with various female-only activities going on throughout the year.

Monday evening proved to be a great success with very valuable feedback provided by all the women who came along. Following our open forum we are now arranging female- only activities starting off with a trip to see the Womens National Team’s World Cup Qualifier on Thursday 1st April at The Falkirk Stadium.

Scotland women’s national coach, Anna Signeul, said: “This is a great initiative, which I’m sure will have a positive impact on women’s football in the East of Scotland. Women’s football is growing at a fantastic rate in Scotland, and over the last few years coaches across the country have put in a lot of work to develop the game at all levels."

"It’s so important that we support those coaches and volunteers, and let them know how much we appreciate their efforts. Whether there are mums out there who want to gain an insight into the game, or coaches working with elite players, we want to give them all the help and support that they need, because they are the people who influence our players. Initiatives like this can only be a good thing for women’s football, and it would be great to see this role out across the country.”

For more information on female only activities or to be included into the newsletters please contact Sam Milne on 07841 569805 or sam.milne@scottishfa.co.uk